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With Paul on the Rise in Iowa, Gingrich Takes Aim

Ron Paul, at the Grand River Center in Dubuque, Iowa, on Thursday, was the focus of Newt Gingrich's criticism on Friday. Some polls have suggested Mr. Paul could win the Iowa caucuses.Credit
Josh Haner/The New York Times

Mr. Gingrich also sharply criticized Mr. Paul for what he said were his isolationist views on foreign policy. The pointed comments suggested a new dynamic in the presidential primary race, with Mr. Paul as a new and enticing target. His fortunes have risen in Iowa, scrambling the field as some polls suggest that Mr. Paul could pull off a victory in the caucuses on Jan. 3. But in recent days, he has come under increasing scrutiny for offensive passages in newsletters that bore his name, although he has denied writing or approving them.

“These things are really nasty, and he didn’t know about it?” Mr. Gingrich said to reporters after a town-hall-style meeting here.

At the same time, Mr. Gingrich refrained from criticizing Mitt Romney, with whom he has frequently sparred, calling him, at worst, “a Massachusetts moderate.”

Speaking to a large and enthusiastic crowd outside the Blue Marlin restaurant here on a warm and sunny day, Mr. Gingrich mainly framed his candidacy in opposition to President Obama. But he strongly criticized Mr. Paul’s foreign policy positions. Mr. Paul’s criticism of American military involvement overseas is at odds with the views of many Republican voters who may otherwise be attracted to his strong antigovernment message.

“The only person I know who is for a weaker military than Barack Obama is Ron Paul,” Mr. Gingrich said.

“His positions are fundamentally wrong on national security,” he added. “I do not agree with him that America is at fault for 9/11, I do not agree with him that we can ignore an Iranian nuclear weapon, and I do not agree with him that it’s O.K. if Israel disappears.”

A top official with the Paul campaign, Jesse Benton, suggested that Mr. Gingrich’s comments were slanderous and an overreaction to the possibility that Mr. Gingrich might not have collected enough signatures to get on the nominating ballot in Virginia — a matter not yet resolved.

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“Today was a bad day for Newt Gingrich,” Mr. Benton said in an e-mail, adding that the former House speaker had “jumped the shark trying to slander Dr. Paul.”

He added: “Dr. Paul supports the strongest national defense and most pro-American foreign policy of any candidate, and is a great friend to Israel.” Mr. Gingrich, he said, “can’t even get in the ballot in the 12th-biggest state in the country, supported TARP and individual health care mandates and took millions advocating for Freddie Mac.”

Mr. Gingrich’s focus on Mr. Paul comes as he has tried to play down expectations about his own standing in the caucuses. He said this week that he would be happy to come in third or fourth, but that he expected to win the South Carolina primary, and the nomination.

The polls in South Carolina show him with a significant lead, and the crowd here on Friday was staunchly on his side. A woman who asked for his views on the Confederate flag — it was moved from atop the State House to its grounds years ago — was booed.

Mr. Gingrich said the people of South Carolina should decide what to do, prompting many in the crowd to jump from their seats and cheer. He hastened to add that he strongly opposed segregation and slavery.

The controversy about the inflammatory passages in newsletters carrying Mr. Paul’s name seems unlikely to die down. On Friday, Mr. Paul’s campaign denied reports that he had written a direct mail solicitation in the 1990s that referred to a “coming race war in our big cities” and mentioned a “federal-homosexual cover-up on AIDS.”

Richard A. Oppel Jr. contributed reporting from New York.

A version of this article appears in print on December 24, 2011, on Page A14 of the New York edition with the headline: With Paul on the Rise in Iowa, Gingrich Takes Aim. Order Reprints|Today's Paper|Subscribe